The personal blog of Matt Guerin, a Toronto-based writer, filmmaker, media manager and political commentator...

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

No matter what, Obama should be on the Democratic ticket this fall...

Like most progressives, I've struggled to make a choice between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama these past few weeks.

I like both of them immensely, as I'm sure most people do.

This being Super Tuesday, it's time to get off the fence. If I were American, I'd be a Democrat. And if I were a Democrat voting on Tuesday, I'd vote for Barack Obama.

As Caroline Kennedy wrote so eloquently in the New York Times recently: "All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

"Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible."

I like the idea of a woman being elected President of the U.S. But I also like the idea of a man of colour who opposed the Iraq war and everything evil it's come to represent replacing George W. Bush as President even more.

I'd be very happy if Hillary Clinton took the nomination and beat out John McCain this fall. I'm sorry to say I greatly fear that McCain would best Clinton in that competition. I have no doubt that Obama would wipe the floor with McCain's butt.

If Obama doesn't win the Democratic nomination, I truly hope that Clinton does the right thing and names him her running mate, to take advantage of the substantial phenomenon he has created in his country. Only with Obama at her side will Clinton have a chance of beating McCain this November.

If you want a good explanation of why Obama's campaign is doing extremely well, consider this bookhttp://www.amazon.com/Appropriating-Blackness-Performance-Politics-Authenticity/dp/0822331918

E Patrick Johnson is an up and coming cultural theorist in Obama Way (Northwestern vis a vis University of Chicago). Makes cultural reference to Adorno etc. This is why he is such a solid campaign performer.